


The Grape Ones are the Luckiest

by gemmaspumpkins



Category: Red Rising Series - Pierce Brown
Genre: Pax and Virginia being pals, The Passage, au augustus family road trip to the institute!, darrow is in it if you squint, eventual sevro and cassius cameos, lots of Telemanuses are there for a second
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-02 16:14:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17267288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gemmaspumpkins/pseuds/gemmaspumpkins
Summary: Virginia's trip to the Institute and through the passage, providing some backstory on her relationship with her brother and her friendship with Pax.





	1. En Route to The Institute

**Author's Note:**

> I mean, I like Pax, but I wanted to know more about why Mustang did too, and to the extent that she did. And I wanted more scenes of her with her brother. I had a lot of questions about the "cheating" at the Institute as well. Instead of saying plot holes and dropped plotlines, I wrote them myself! And I got carried away. Hope it makes sense, and that everyone enjoys it and all that good stuff :)

When Virginia stepped into the ship, she shouldn’t have been surprised to see Adrius there. She took her seat silently across from him, their father sitting next to Adrius, but facing the pilot with his back to both of his children. He didn’t acknowledge her as he told the Blue to continue toward the next stop on their way to the Institute. There were a handful of servants sitting in the section far behind them all, but no one said a word. 

She busied herself on her datapad, knowing it would be more productive than trying to make small talk with her twin who stared blankly toward the bridge. She tried to remember the name of the family he lived with. He never called anyone by name in their rare communications. She often wondered if he even bothered to learn them. 

Their father was on his datapad, as well as directing the blue and mumbling into a comm. When he noticed Virginia watching him, he turned toward her and nodded, and she looked away quickly, not thinking of how long it had been since she’d last seen him. Her visits to the estate were quick and quiet. Since she couldn’t be seen publicly, she was more there to maintain ties to the house, and to keep tabs on her father, who probably would have preferred her stay with the Telemanuses to be permanent. 

It had been at least twice as long since she and Adrius had even spoken. 

“When I’m ArchGovernor,” Adrius said conspiratorially toward Virginia, “I won’t have to direct my Blues because everyone will get out of my squabbing way.”

_When._ Virginia didn’t want to start off with him on the wrong foot, but with Adrius, there was rarely a right foot. Thankfully, their father interjected. Unfortunately, he used the same word, and Virginia held back a wince. 

“When you are ArchGovernor,” Nero said. “You’ll know when to keep your mouth shut.” 

Virginia braced herself for Adrius’ retort, but he said nothing. _When._ Her father had always kept Adrius at arm’s length, but since Claudius’ death, Adrius had become the future ArchGovernor. 

When the twins had been split up and sequestered, she hadn’t given much thought to who would be the heir, she was too caught up in her grief over Claudius. But if she was honest, she had thought they would be on equal footing. Hints like this seemed to completely ignore her, to say that she wasn’t even an option. 

After a few more minutes of silence, she considered trying to talk to Adrius again. He was her brother, her twin. Sitting next to him and feeling so alienated broke her heart. Surely they could find some common ground. As she considered what to say - one wrong step with Adrius could go from breaking the ice to drowning her - she heard a tapping. Adrius was thrumming his fingertips against a knife blade. 

She almost reached for the good luck charm in her pocket, but Adrius’s calculating eyes would see, and she didn’t want to explain why she was carrying around a “gift” from a pet fox. It wasn’t as if she truly believed in luck, but the single purple jelly bean was a comfort, and she needed all the luck and comfort she could get before entering a conversation with her brother. 

He noticed her contemplating his knife instead, and grinned, continuing to tap the gleaming blade. 

“You know there’s killing at the Institute?” he asked idly. His head bent toward the knife but she could see his eyes on her reaction. She couldn’t think of something clever fast enough. She never could with him. 

“Who told you that? No one’s supposed to know what happens at the Institute.” Virginia hated herself for immediately turning to accusation, but Adrius seemed very pleased with her response. Of course, he was, because it meant he knew something she didn’t. 

“You know who told me?” He jerked his head toward Nero and his eyes danced. Suddenly, they were ten years old again, whispering and giggling behind Claudius’ back, or while hiding under the dining table while their father and stepmother fought, eating jelly tarts Adrius had swiped from the kitchens. Virginia’s eyes widened. 

“Really?” she breathed. Adrius nodded, self-satisfied. 

“Not everything, but about the killing.” He paused as if to see if he’d been heard. “I’m hoping all the Bellonas are enrolled this year.” Virginia kept herself from reacting. They weren’t children anymore. This was not jelly-tarts-under-the-table, it was potentially cheating against the Board of Quality Control, and if he was right, life or death. He became curious, and prodded again. 

“What, you wouldn’t kill a Bellona?” His fingers hadn’t stopped their drumming motion on the knife blade. 

This one she could answer quickly. She didn’t go a day without missing Claudius. She realized as she sat uncomfortably that she had gone many days without a thought of either her father or Adrius. The pang of guilt came out in the anger of her voice. 

“I’d kill Karnus in a second.” 

Adrius became as close to gleeful as she had ever seen him and she immediately regretted saying it so fiercely. 

“I knew you had it in you, Virginia!” He lowered his voice again as Nero shot a look back at them. “Too bad he graduated years ago. Maybe if he can pass the entrance test one of these days, you can have it at him at the Academy. Me, I’ll take any Bellona I can get. Blood feuds and all that.” His voice was rising again, and Virginia could tell he wanted their father to hear that last part. 

She tried to remember the other Bellonas. There was Karnus of course, she hadn’t lied about wanting to kill him. There were others closer to her age, and she remembered getting butterflies in her stomach meeting one of them at a Summit, years and years ago when she was still allowed to attend. She could remember curly hair and a jubilant grin, no malice that would have her kill him. There was another brother around their at least one younger brother, but he was just a child in her mind. She was glad to find she didn’t want to kill any of them but Karnus - she still had her humanity, even if it wouldn’t get her named heir. 

“Anyway, I can’t believe they didn’t tell you anything to prepare you for the Institute. Kavax and Niobe are both peerless. Daxo and Thraxa too. Maybe they told Pax in secret.” _Tap, tap, tap._ She knew that he named them each off as a testament - he knew who she was staying with, and everything about them. She could admit to an urge to kill, but he’d always prove he could have the upper hand. 

“I don’t think so,” she hissed back defensively. “They’re too honorable for that.” 

“Doubt it.” Adrius said. “They just don’t know they can. They’d be seeding the drafters and proctors as well as anyone if they knew it was possible.” 

Nero spoke up, and it chilled Virginia that he had likely heard every word they’d said. 

“The Telemanuses are a noble house. The only reason I’m doing what I’m doing is because I already had one heir slaughtered.” Adrius nodded, though Nero couldn’t see. “If it weren’t for your mother, I’d let you drown and keep Leto.” 

“You’re already keeping Leto,” Adrius muttered. In the same way Virginia couldn’t maintain composure around Adrius, his emotions only revealed themselves around their father. 

“You’re my heir. End of discussion.” Virginia had always wondered at their mother’s involvement. She had been transfixed with Adrius. While Nero, and Virginia too, if she was honest, fawned over Claudius and spurned Adrius’ hollow eyes and intensity, their mother delighted in any smile she could get out of him. 

That was probably when Virginia has first understood the manipulation he was capable of. While she wanted her twin to feel loved by someone who wasn’t her, it sometimes felt almost slimy to watch him milk their poor mother for doe-eyed tears. And now she was gone. 

She had assumed her father had no love lost over it, with as quickly as he moved on. She wondered if Claudius were alive now, if there would have been any words about their mother. Likely not. Nero wouldn’t be pulling whatever strings he was pulling, and so he wouldn’t need an excuse to. 

Virginia could see plain as day that he wanted any blame on his dead wife. She wondered if Adrius saw it. If he failed, it would be his own fault, Nero could say he’d done all he could to set him up for success in his wife’s honor. If Adrius succeeded, Nero would shrug and say it was only because of his own interference. She knew Adrius was smart enough to see, but she liked the idea that their mother’s love could carry on, and she hoped Adrius could believe that, whether or not he played into Nero’s hand. 

They docked and Nero stood to exit. He stopped and turned back to Adrius. 

“I am not pulling strings for you.” For a heartbeat, Virginia thought he might turn and name her heir. Instead, he slapped Adrius across the face. Adrius barely reacted, simply spitting on the floor as if to prove Nero hadn’t drawn blood. “I’m pulling strings for house Augustus. For what is best for Mars. And what is best for Mars is my son becoming a peerless scarred and ranking as ArchPrimus. That is what I will accept, and it is what you will be. I am not handing it to you. I am not helping you. I am ensuring the future of the planet has a live heir. That is all.” 

Adrius nodded solemnly, but laughed as soon as Nero was gone, after a quick nod to Virginia. She was still shocked he had spit in front of their father. 

“What a squabbing dramatic. He’s bribed proctors, and set up squabbing sacrificial lambs and he has the nerve to try to make it sound like it’s still some kind of noble effort and not squabbing corruption. Good old house Augustus.” He shook his head and sheathed his knife. 

The ship was waiting to dock again, for them to join the hundreds of other students waiting to go to the Institute, to listen their father speak about that nobility and honor. 

“If you’re right and everyone does it, maybe he’s just leveling the playing field with Luna.” 

“Didn’t think I’d hear that out of the mouth of your innocence,” he laughed, and they stood up as Brown and Pink attendants approached them. They were rarely without an entire makeup crew when they went anywhere with Nero as children, and Virginia had almost forgotten, since she hadn’t been out publicly as his daughter in years. The servants primped the twins’ outfits, and a Rose re-braided Virginia’s hair. 

“I wondered if I would ever see you again. You look just like your mother,” she said softly as she braided. Virginia felt guilty for not remembering the woman’s name, but there had been so many servants through the years, and it had been so long since she had attended to by a Rose. 

When she visited the estate, she rarely used servants, and Nero certainly wasn’t lending her a Rose when it was her choice to visit and not his. There was a warmth and familiarity, and Virginia wondered if that’s what home was like for some people. Sometimes, the Telemanuses felt like home, but this Rose seemed to know her from before, had known her mother. 

“We’re all rooting for you, domina,” the Pink continued as she coiled and uncoiled Virginia’s braid, stepping back to look at it, and then rearranging a pin here or there. “Claudius was ArchPrimus. It was grand.” The woman’s eyes were misty, and Virginia wondered what it would be like if her own mother was there to send her off. This was as close as she would get – a kindly woman whose name she didn’t even know. 

The Rose tucked a final hair in place, and squeezed Virginia’s hand. “Thank you,” Virginia said. She embraced the woman, who was truly crying now. Virginia might have cried too, but instead kept her eyes on Adrius, who was staring hollowly while a young Pink man adjusted his hair timidly, if not terrified. 

“What do you think he’ll do to you? Or for you?” Virginia called to Adrius, trying to break his reverie before the doors opened.  
“Make my life hell. Probably put us against each other so one of us has to die, something dramatic like that.”

After Nero’s strange farewell, it did seem as though Nero’s so-called cheating would make Adrius’ life harder, not easier. She hated her father for the way he was always putting Adrius to tests, making him prove himself. Times like those were when she was glad she wasn’t heir. But if she was the heir, she would be able to take them, she knew it. And it explained where Adrius got his penchant for testing others.

“If I were him,” Adrius’ voice slowed, and she felt one of his tests coming. “I would put you against Pax.” Virginia gritted her teeth trying not to respond. When he saw that she wouldn’t, he continued and his voice quickened back to a more honest pace. She let out her breath. “Or maybe me against the Bellona, I’m guessing that’s what he meant by ‘best for our house.’ If Cassius and Julian both had unfortunate accidents, that would be best.” 

She tried to think of those names, but she still couldn’t call up any hate for them, just a short-lived crush from so many Summits ago and a sunny child who, even now, couldn’t be anywhere near hard edged enough for the Institute. 

The doors opened, and Adrius snapped his Pink away. The Rose by Virginia shrank back as well. She wondered if the servants had all loved her because she was truly nice and kind, or if she was simply nice and kind compared to her hollow, scary brother. She reached again for the jelly bean in her pocket, but stopped herself short as the doors opened and Adrius watched her quizzically. 

The twins prepared to make their entrance, but unlike most events they attended with their father when they were young, where they were handheld and escorted, this seemed to be a madhouse of students and parents crushed together saying goodbyes. Virginia felt the Rose’s hand on her shoulder, and she finally felt a tear in her own eye, blinking it away and praying Adrius hadn’t seen it. 

The doors closed behind them. She looked at her twin, but now he was looking anywhere else. For a Bellona maybe? For some other assumed enemy? His emotionless gave away nothing, and he didn’t even acknowledge her as she gave a sort-of wave goodbye and went to find Pax.


	2. Did You Hear There's Killing at the Institute?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She finds the Telemanuses for final farewells and learns more about what the Institute may have in store.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!

The Telamanuses were easy to spot, standing at least a head above everyone around them, and with Kavax a head above that. Seeing them all together though, she didn’t want to intrude. They had been so kind to take her in, and she had felt more at home with them than she had ever felt in her own house. Still, the physical differences alone were enough to remind her she was not one of them, and her status as their ArchGovernor’s daughter gave her an aura of untouchability that the boisterous family respected while she had lived with them. 

She faltered, and thankfully saw two girls she recognized from the testing weeks before. She waved and they moved to invite her into conversation without skipping a beat. 

“Of course there’s death, why do you think everyone’s parents are crying?” The taller one was saying to the wide-eyed younger one. “Tell her, Virginia.” 

“I’ve heard rumors, but no one will tell me anything for sure,” Virginia said, remembering that she didn’t know until up until a moment ago, and that knowing was not something the ArchGovernor’s daughter could admit to without getting turned in to Quality Control. The girl rolled her eyes. 

“You do too know. Anyway, aren’t your parents peerless? They should have told you.”

The shorter girl shrugged. “They were house Jupiter, that’s about all I know.” 

“Well, they know. And your mom is friends with my mom and she knows I know so it’s ok.” Virginia tried to follow the logic, but instead her eye was caught by Kavax, who waved her over. “Plus, your aunt is on the board!” The older girl was scolding as Virginia walked off. 

She took the opportunity to leave them, nervous about the older girl who seemed nearly as interested in the killing as Adrius. She felt sorry for the younger one and tried to remember if her parents had ever been around her father. 

As she walked, she saw many of her father’s friends’ children, but there was only the faintest sense of recollection as eyes met. Though many hadn’t seen her in years, it didn’t stop them from looking and trying to remember. 

It certainly didn’t stop the curly haired Bellona, who took her in from tip to toe. She thought she would feel gross, but he made eye contact and she felt decidedly not gross. His lingering eye contact was a shot of confidence she needed and she almost wanted to wink at him. He must not have recognized her, no one gave that look to their blood sworn enemy. 

She saw a lot of people she recognized, but not as her father’s friends. Some were employees, a few were families she didn’t even realize were Gold. As she pressed through the crowd, she noticed many families weren’t peerless. They smiled and laughed. With no idea that death could be on the line, this was a happy moment for them, they’d have a chance to improve their station if their children became peerless. They were so proud of their children. 

Then there was the Barca boy. That had been an under-the-table eavesdropping from many years ago. She knew his mother was put to death by the QC, and she’d never actually seen him before, but he was unmistakable, even among the coppers he looked dull. How in the world had a bronzie gotten an Institute invitation? 

She tried to decide if he looked vaguely like his father, who she had seen sulking around the ArchGovernor estate on her past few visits. Sevro didn’t even look up at her, not that he would know her at all anyway. She couldn’t be sure what his father would have done to garner enough favor for someone to invite the hatchet-faced boy. 

Finally, she reached Kavax, and Niobe pulled her into hug that felt like home. It was what the Rose on the ship would have done if her brother hadn’t been haunting them. 

“We are so excited. You two better stick together,” Niobe said gesturing to Pax as well, and Virginia saw she had been crying. It was true, then: they could die. 

“We will,” Virginia reassured her. 

“Write us letters!” 

“They can’t write letters,” Thraxa said, taking her turn to hug Virginia. “Were you allowed to write letters?” 

“I guess not. I think your father and I just wrote love notes to each other,” Niobe blushed. “Different houses,” she said by way of explanation. 

“I wouldn’t write to you anyway,” Pax joked. “Only to Helga.” He put his hand over his heart, “and maybe to Sophocles.” 

Kavax laughed, then took Virginia into his huge arms. As she pressed her face into his beard, she felt real tears. He held on and rubbed her back, but not a moment too long. 

She straightened up and said more formal goodbyes, thanking them for taking her in and trying not to let it sink in that she probably would never live with them again. After this, it was the academy or an apprenticeship. Maybe she and Pax could stay friends and she could still visit. Her eyes stung as they left, but she didn’t cry. 

“Did you hear there’s killing?” Pax asked, and Virginia was relieved that Adrius was wrong. They had not told Pax and not her, he was as shocked as she was. She nodded. 

“Adrius said some things but I didn’t know what to believe.” Pax almost shuddered at Adrius’ name. He caused the same near-visceral reaction in most people, even those like Pax who had only heard of him from Virginia’s stories. Adrius could cover up his hollowness, his creepiness, when he wanted, but he rarely wanted to. Virginia preferred it that way - his honesty, if scary, meant it was less likely she was being manipulated. 

“We’re also supposed to have a house we want. I don’t even know all of them.” She lowered her voice. “It’s also weird no one recognizes me.” 

“They’re all looking at me, it’s true,” Pax laughed, and preened. “I don’t care what house I’m in, I don’t understand it all. I just know I’m supposed to win.” 

“Ah, yes, we all are.” Virginia leaned in again. She had talked to Pax about Adrius on occasion, but was always afraid of sharing too much, that he would become afraid of her too. But he knew the importance, and was likely the only person who had ever considered she could have been named heir after Claudius died. After all, she had been sequestered away just as Adrius had.  
There was nothing stopping Nero from selecting her except a flimsy lie about her mother and her father’s misogyny, or simple ignorance of his third child. “I heard the winner is the ArchPrimus, whatever that means. And my father said he wanted Adrius to get it if he wants to be ArchGovernor.” She decided not to say ‘since he’s going to be ArchGovernor.’ 

“That’s it? You just have to be ArchPrimus to become heir?” Pax was excited for her, he understood. 

“No, I don’t think that’s it exactly. But at least I know what I’m aiming for.” She smiled. It was so easy to talk to Pax. No one in her family except maybe Claudius was able to carry on more than a stilting few sentences before someone was blaming someone or insulting someone or worse. 

“What we are aiming for,” he said. “I live on Mars too, and I’m sorry, but your brother gives me the heeby jeebies.” Virginia giggled. 

“We just need to learn more about what’s going to happen in there. I know it’s not noble, but I don’t like being in the dark. Or dead.” 

Pax nodded. She began to seek out the two girls from earlier again, but was stopped by someone else. She didn’t recognize him, but he stopped to look at her. While his head did the same motion as Cassius’, this look was a distinct leer. He wouldn’t meet her eyes.

Instead, he raised his hand to Pax, who looked stricken, as if to indicate his supreme disapproval to Virginia. She was offended, but she’d certainly been through worse. Plus, maybe she could get something out of him.

“Quirinius,” he said, putting his arm out to Virginia. “And you’re Virginia. I didn’t know you and Pax here,” he jabbed the much larger man a little too playfully, “were together.” 

“We’re not like that,” Virginia said, but almost regretted it, not wanting to open a way for this guy to go after her. 

“That means I’m single too,” Pax cooed, grabbing Quirinius around the waist and catching him off guard and speechless. Virginia laughed. He was always coming to her rescue. Quirinius was unfazed, and she decided to try to get information out of him. He seemed to know who they were, so maybe he knew more. 

“What house are you hoping for?” She asked, trying to be conversational, but wishing she had decided to approach someone else. 

Where was the guy with the lowColor name from the showers? She wondered if his family had been peerless. She was pretty sure they were dead, so it wouldn’t get them in trouble if he had all kinds of information. Plus, he’d passed all those tests. He had to know what was going on. Instead, she had Quirinius, who was griping about something while Pax pretended to listen intently. He finally settled on his house choices. 

“Nothing too vicious like Pluto, but nothing too cerebral like Minerva,” he finally said. “Maybe Dianna or Mars. You?”

She shrugged. “Do you know how they pick?” Pax asked. 

“I have an idea. But it’s not a good idea. They pick based on scores and they talk to you, but I think I’m going to be picked based on something else.” He jerked his head over to where the two girls from earlier were standing. As parents left, the students were easier to spot and the space was less crowded. 

Quirinius turned fully to Pax, though Virginia could still hear every word. 

“The short one and I were at a club, and we went back to my place afterward, and you know, and she wouldn’t stop screaming.” He shrugged and Virginia was glad to see Pax’s face was as blank as hers. “Why’d she even go to the club if that’s not what she wanted, you know? After the whole thing, the whole thing, she left crying and I never heard from her again,” he shrugged. “Anyway, I think her aunt or her cousin or something is a Proctor. So, I don’t have my hopes up too high.” Virginia thought she was going to vomit. 

“Anyway,” he turned back to Virginia. “I bet you’re a Premier so you don’t have to be culled through like the rest of us dregs of society.” He gave an overdramatic bow. She began to wonder how he knew who she was, since she couldn’t place him. He had seemed to know Pax as well, though Pax gave no indication of having seen him before. 

“Nope, no special treatment for our lady of the day,” Pax said. Quirinius seemed interested. 

“Really? Maybe they don’t rig these things after all,” he said. “The society shall continue to stand noble and honorable or whatever. Priam is a premier, and I think Kovalt too. You know them?” Pax nodded vaguely. “Good times.” He looked to something over Pax’s shoulder, which was nearly impossible, no one could be spotted above or around the gargantuan boy. “Well, I’ll see you in there. Wish me luck!” He ran off. 

“So, I’m not a premier. Maybe Adrius is,” Virginia mused. Maybe, that was what her father meant by pulling strings, and setting him up for success in a way that the QC would be OK with. It was a glimmer of hope, but she knew it was untrue. 

“Premiers, and we know some stuff about the houses,” Pax said. “You going Minerva?” he laughed.

“I don’t think I get to pick. I’m just going wherever that guy isn’t,” she shuddered. “So much for only the best of the best being here.” Pax nodded. “It’s also surprising how many people are here. The scarring ceremonies are never this many people. Maybe a quarter of them. And there are a lot of bronzes around.” Pax nodded again in agreement – he’d noticed. “I like to think it’s to give them a chance, but squab if they don’t look like lambs lead to slaughter if you think about the killing part.” Pax nodded again, more solemnly this time. She sighed deeply. 

“Well, let’s stick together. I’ll go wherever you go,” Virginia said. 

He nodded. His scores had been nearly as good as hers, but his size was enough to draw him into any of the more physical houses. They had trained together, and he was at least ten times as strong as she was. While her overall scores had been higher, she could see someone like Mars picking him up immediately based on bulk alone.

Next, they lined up to board the shuttles to Agea, as if it was some secret place and not where most of the families had summer homes. She and Pax would be separated here. As a Brown read the lists of names, Pax nudged her. 

He held up a blue jellybean. She smiled and took it, a symbol of the Telemanus warmth. She held it in her hand, but Pax smirked and patted his pocket. As they called her name, he gave her an encouraging look, and a mock salute. 

“See you on the other side.” As she buckled into the shuttle, she put the jellybean in her mouth, and closed her eyes. The buckle caught on something, interrupting her quiet moment. Something in her pocket was bulging into the catch. She reached her hand in and discovered it was absolutely full of jellybeans.


	3. The Drafting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mustang and Pax are drafted and take the first steps towards winning the Institute - whatever it may be.

She sat through her interviews well enough. It was obvious the proctors knew who she was, so there were a lot of knowing looks and boxes checked without questions. She wasn’t sure if they really wanted her, or if they were just being polite based on her name - or based on whatever strings Nero was pulling. She was just eager to get the actual Institute, whatever it was. She hoped there were horses. 

Some of them tried to be chatty, as if to remind her that they had her father’s ear - “I remember when you were only this tall!” or “Aren’t you as lovely as your mother!” No one asked about her brother, which was a relief. 

Fitchner au Barca was the Mars proctor, and she nearly rolled her eyes. Of course the strange man with the dead wife wasn’t just hanging around her father for fun, and had somehow wormed his way into a proctor position. Unbelievable, although it explained his son being here. She wondered which of them was getting the better deal. 

He sauntered in and smirked, then spun the interviewer chair around as if he was going to sit in it backwards, but then thought better of it. She restrained herself from any sort of acknowledgement of who he was, but he didn’t seem to care at all, and just blew a gumbubble and shouted “Next!” without even sitting down. She gave up on restraint and rolled her eyes then. 

She knew she had done well on the tests, but she had assumed everyone had done equally well to be admitted to the Institute. Then again, the bronze families waiting seemed to say otherwise. 

No, they must have scored as well to be there. This was their opportunity. This was the chance for them to rise up as better Golds, to make their own way. She hoped. 

The tediousness and strangeness of the interviews over, she was placed for selection and the drafters began buzzing around with their proctors. She found Pax, where he was being pointed at, but not talked to, by some floating drafters. As she took a spot next to him, they turned quickly to another square. 

“Oh, sorry!” Virginia said. “I didn’t mean to interrupt or ruin your chances at being a firstDraft.” Pax shrugged. 

“I don’t want to be firstDraft anyway. Too much pressure.” She nodded. While it was likely true, she still would feel a lot better once they were drafted, hopefully together. 

Minerva approached, and the proctor read off her scores to the drafters as if they didn’t know exactly who she was already, or couldn’t see the scores themselves. She recognized a few of them even behind their masks. She was selected without much fanfare, almost not even realizing she had become firstDraft. She thanked them, and they eyed Pax. 

“You know him?” The proctor asked. She nodded. Her sequestering had been secret enough, but surely the drafters close to her father knew. She wondered again - were they here by coincidence or were they part of the corruption? Had he even bothered to “pull strings” for her? She could see now, with everyone’s scores displayed, that she was in fact worthy of being a firstDraft, but that didn’t mean anything when it came to her father. 

They passed onto the next grid, murmuring about Pax’s size, and Virginia looked at Pax, unsure about how he would feel. He was nearly giddy. 

“You’re a firstDraft!” He motioned to hug her, but then restrained himself as more proctors and drafters approached. Again, they were clearly interested, but said nothing. She had to remember she had been sent to live with the Telemanuses because they were relatively unknown. Known enough to be in her father’s inner circle, but apparently not known enough to be a firstDraft. 

Pluto stopped to talk to him, and Jupiter did too. The Mars drafters seemed interested, but as proctor, Fitchner clearly pushed them on to another. Barca was slimy enough when she had seen him with her father, and he hadn’t even attempted to clean up. She wondered what dirt he had on Nero to have been given what was supposed to be a prestigious position. 

When Minerva came around again, they looked and pointed at Pax, but spoke to Virginia. “You like him?” She nodded. 

“We need brains, but sometimes that’s not enough. We need brawn that can understand what needs to be done.” She nodded. He definitely understood - about Adrius, about the way the proctors looked at her. As firstDraft, maybe she had some sway of her own. “You’ll need someone like him.” She nodded.

They asked him a few questions and she was happy to see him grinning broadly as he answered, not with the terse awkwardness he had with Pluto or Jupiter. He was the second draft for house Minerva. 

They were both elated, not only to be in the same house, but to be drafted so quickly. They could relax. And they did, watching others get drafted and whispering about who they would want for Minerva. The boy from the locker room who had scored so highly and Cassius au Bellona would be in Mars. She wondered if the proctor was any less sleazy around his own students. Likely not. 

Adrius had been claimed by Pluto, and she noted some of the others on her shuttle were placed in Apollo. Many bronzes still hadn’t been selected, and it was hard to watch proctors and drafters arguing over who not to choose instead of who they wanted as they got lower down the list. She felt a little guilty that she was pleased to see Quirinius in the last group, but that stopped quickly when Minerva begrudgingly selected him. 

Next was her father’s speech, so inspirational to the students, many of whom whooped and cheered. She was less impressed, and scanned the crowd instead, noting Adrius seemed to share her disinterest, although it manifested in his hollow eyes in a way that made her turn quickly lest he notice her. 

She finally spotted the boy from the locker room, looking equally attractive but much more appropriate fully clothed. He didn’t seem as excited about the speech, but he didn’t seem disinterested. Instead, he was hanging on every word, he just wasn’t smiling about it like the others. 

At the dinner, Virginia was placed at the head of the table, since Minerva didn’t have a premier. She noticed Pluto didn’t have one either, and Adrius sat at its head, his scores showing him leaps and bounds above most of the others at his table. She could see her father’s hand at work: Adrius would quickly rise to Primus, as he was clearly superior. Interesting choice, though, as it would leave him with a low scoring team that feared him and would be of little help. 

Houses with premiers seemed more tense, with the highDrafts eyeing their heads who hadn’t gone through the interview and selection process. 

Pax sat at her right hand as the second draft, and lead the table in a fun and funny conversation about how the food compared to his mother’s. Virginia was wary that most had servants so they may not be able to relate, and the Telemanuses had servants too, but that wouldn’t do for the story. She laughed along, and eventually joined in with commentary of her own. 

She surveyed the table of the self-proclaimed and proctor-determined best and brightest Gold children. Minerva was a house for knowledge and strategy, and for thinking. But there was more to the Institute than that. The interest in Pax confirmed the physical component would play an important role. 

Her father had mentioned the viciousness required of Golds, but she’d been listening to him speak her whole life - he could apply the “viciousness required of golds” as easily to the hanging he had attended in the mines as he could to slamming a door to get a valet’s attention. 

She and Pax walked to the dorm together and discussed what she should do as firstDraft, and how to extend that to Primus. After picking bunks in the back, the two of them went around and met every member of the house. 

She shook hands and tried to remember names, and Pax helped and told everyone his full name in his booming voice and that he would be “PAX AU TELEMANUS, the muscle” for all of them. As most in Minerva relied on their brains to get into the Institute at all, he was particularly comforting. 

A few seemed to challenge her obviously taking the lead, and set themselves out to do the same, glad-handing the others in the house. She smiled - it would only make the team more cohesive for everyone to get along, and she would still be remembered for being first and having Pax. 

Many asked her about the passage, but she could honestly say she had no idea what it would be. The lowDrafts were especially nervous, and she was sure they had only just found out the true stakes of the Institute. 

Exhausted, they climbed into their beds, Pax in the bunk below hers, confirming his role as bodyguard should anyone turn mutinous on night one. 

She leaned over the edge and whispered a thanks. He looked up at her. “Of course!” She showed him her stash of mostly purple jelly beans and they giggled. He had grape too, but he claimed that as those were the luckiest, he was saving them till he really needed them. They each took a blue one, and touched them together. “Cheers!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think. There may be some fact checking/canonical inconsistencies, let me know if you catch any. It feels like I need to re-read the whole book for every chapter. 
> 
> Also - I've started working on my next one, a Holiday backstory. :)


	4. The Passage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The moment you've all been waiting for - Mustang in the passage.

She heard it before she saw it, giving more credence to Pax’s good sense in defensiveness as to where they had chosen their bunks. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long until she saw it. As soon as the Obsidians grabbed her, she knew Pax was gone, and it wouldn’t be worth calling out to him. He would have stopped this.

There was a bag over her head in an instant, and she kept her mouth shut, despite it being the first time in her life she wanted to scream about being the ArchGovernor’s daughter. She was calm as they carried her away, and regulated her breathing, trying to prepare for anything that could come next. She didn’t panic until she felt the first kick. 

Suddenly, she was being beat with the force of more than the two who had grabbed her. It felt like it could have easily been six or eight, and she knew that if they knew who she was, it was likely every Crow on Agea was joining in to beat her. These were the kinds of strings she had. 

She wondered if she was supposed to fight them off. Maybe this was the passage, defeating Crows to show mastery over the races. In theory it sounded awful, but in practice, with her own blood in her mouth, it seemed like a great idea. She coughed, but felt sluggish, maybe already concussed. 

When she came to, Minerva was in the room with her. Virginia was naked on a stone floor, with a body beaten to a pulp. In spite of the strange circumstance, she only wished she had eaten the purple jelly bean.

“This is the passage,” Minerva said solemnly, almost sadly, a strict departure from the all-business proctor she had been with the drafters, or the laughing matron she had been with the other proctors during dinner. 

“Whenever you’re done, one of you will have the ring. And one of you…won’t. We will see the victor tomorrow in the house. This is the first test, but it will not be the last. I wish it could be all based on cleverness and scheming, but there are some things all Golds must have in common. Look inside yourself, and see if you have what it takes to be Gold, and remember being a Peerless Scarred is so much more than that.”

The door shut behind her, but Virginia was not alone. Her hearing was still a little muted, and her vision was such that her head swam as she turned to see an equally naked, but not nearly as bruised, Quirinius. 

“What ring?” She asked, and Quirinius held it up. He was severely less beaten than she, and her vision blurred as his seemed in tact, his movements were sharp.

“You’ve got to work on your stamina, Princess,” he laughed. “That wasn’t any worse than syndicate crank, and me and the old lady were waiting for you to wake up for a while now.” 

Virginia didn’t think she had been out that long. It didn’t make sense Minerva would wait around for anyone. Still she did wonder, and it gave him enough time to head for the door. It couldn’t be that simple though, and she was right - the door didn’t budge. 

Did they have to figure out a way through the door? Was that the challenge? Quirinius bounced the ring in his hand. She understood what was happening a moment before he said anything. 

“We’re supposed to kill each other,” he said flatly. Virginia’s first thought was that he was wrong - they couldn’t kill each other, there had to be one left. It would have to be her. She stood up shakily, keeping her eye on the ring. He laughed. 

“You think if I leave you dead in here, your dad would kill me when I got out?” He paused, but not long enough to consider. “Nah, he’d probably offer me a position. Now if I killed your brother, that would be a different story. But I’d rather kill you - your brother’s a little too creepy for me. Is he scary, or is he just not all there?”

“He’s smarter than you,” she laughed. Confidence was key. She tried to speak lightly, to keep her voice from shaking, even as her legs did so as she tried to stand on them. His monologue was making her uncomfortable, but it wasn’t scaring her. She wasn’t going to let anyone talk about her brother.

“Who’s to say? I was only a lowDraft because of that insipid bronzie who’s too short to be a Gold. It may as well have been a Pink and then this wouldn’t have happened.” 

She laughed again. “We could all see your scores. And what’s that supposed to mean about the Pinks? Sounds like you had poor practice if you couldn’t please a Gold.” 

“And yet here I am, naked with you.” He moved toward her, and her skin crawled. She regretted saying anything. “How do I compare to your bodyguard? If I’d have had you from the club, would I be second in command now? Does his size carry to all of his body parts?”

“Ask your mother,” Virginia laughed. Truthfully, she had no clue. Pax was with Helga and she had never even considered him like that. She’d spent a few nights falling asleep to thoughts of Daxo’s bare chest and the suggestion of more, but Pax was never on her mind in that way.

“If you’d have had me home from the club, I wouldn’t have to kill you now because I would have done it then, you filthy pixie idiot.” She took a kravat stance, hoping to make this shorter rather than longer. 

“And yet,” he said, “I have the ring.” He had flinched at some of the things she said, but he was calm and collected now. And he was far too close to her. He reached his hand without the ring in it toward her waist. She didn’t flinch, knowing she was backed up to the wall. His hand landed on the curve between hip and breast. She was honestly surprised at the chastity.

She still spit in his face. In that instant, she jammed her elbow into the hand on her side, and she heard at least one bone crack. She grabbed at his other hand reaching instinctively to wipe his face. He was wearing the ring now, and she couldn’t get it off in one movement, but she could twist his wrist. He spun until she had it pinned behind him. She put her knee into his back, and pried the ring off, breaking another finger in the process. 

“You’re delicate for a Gold,” she said, holding him down. She didn’t know what to do next - she had never killed anyone before. She had been mad, angry, fuming, but now that she had him under her power, it felt like that should be enough. 

But of course, it was not. 

He sensed her hesitation, and rolled violently over, knocking her knee back with his arm. They locked in a wrestle, and then she was pinned. He was larger, and he may have been stronger, but she was smarter and had fewer weaknesses. She had maneuvered him against the stone wall, and she jerked a knee into his crotch. 

He reeled back, hitting his head against the wall. Not enough to do damage, but enough for her to stand up. 

“You’re disgusting.” 

“You’re hot. Sorry.” He laughed, and she realized he was referring to his erection. She shuddered. 

He was against the wall, and she had the ring. She wanted to go in for a punch, but wasn’t sure if he would block it. She had kicked him hard enough that he should have been doubled over in pain. Instead he was reaching for her breast. She grabbed his wrist again. 

“How many fingers do I have to break?” She said, exasperated, pinning his wrist to his throat and pulling up on his chin. It wasn’t that she expected him to surrender, but maybe it could have been a fair kravat fight, or even a punching match instead of these quick jabs and close contact. He smiled in a self-satisfied way that caught her off guard. 

“At least three more,” he cooed, inching two of the three he mentioned onto her inner thigh. The wrist grab had brought her close enough to him to make that possible. Her hand jerked up, knocking his chin back and his head harder into the stone. She kneed him in the crotch again, even harder this time, and held her hand over his throat, now constricting his airflow, and pinning him to the wall. 

“If you’d have let me kill you, at least you’d never have to watch your brother become ArchGovernor. You probably won’t get to watch that anyway. So long as you’re both alive you’ll just be watching your back for him. Waiting for the knife.” She didn’t say anything, but gave a quick kravat kick to his side while she held onto his throat. At least she’d get her family’s money’s worth out of those lessons. 

“You know if it were Adirus in here instead of me, you’d have been dead before the door even closed.” As he said it, she knew it was true. She knocked his head back again, and this time there was blood behind it as he recoiled.

“Maybe that would be kinder. Your supposed kindness is just dragging this out. Do I need to tell you what to do?” he choked out, his breathing rough, but his heart still pounding. 

“No, shut up.” He nodded, his eyes fluttering between open and closed. She had been sure the choking was the right move to incapacitate him, but it was true she needed him to be dead. 

“I can say worse things. I can say your mother was a whore. I can say Kavax fucks his fox, and Daxo -” 

“How do you know about Kavax and Daxo?” He didn’t respond. She knew better than to release pressure, this could easily be a trick to get her to let him go. He was lower on the wall, and that could be a trick to regain his footing. Her hold wouldn’t last much longer. 

“I know,” he slurred. “I know Adrius. I know your father.” Quirinius was a string being pulled. She just wasn’t sure which direction, and she didn’t have the time or arm strength to find out. 

She gave a final yank up, and he gasped. Not enough. She gave a quick punch with her now-ringed hand, and made contact with his eye. He slumped down, and she kicked him in the face. She tried to guess the extent of his injury from the blood that ran down the wall behind his head, then remembered it didn’t matter. She kneed him in the face, knocking his head back into the rock a final time. This time she heard the contact, and there was no gasp. 

The door swung open silently behind her. She slid down on the wall next to the hinge, so anyone outside the room wouldn’t see her. They would see him and the smear of blood above his head that made the kill look cleaner and quicker than it was. She was surprised to find she wasn’t crying now. After the overwhelming day had brought her to tears at every turn, this had left her without feeling. He had needed to die for her to continue, for her to do what was right. And really, she was lucky he was such an asshole, so she didn’t feel entirely guilty. 

She wondered if the short doe-eyed girl had made it through the passage, wherever she was. Virginia hoped the girl would live long enough to at least find out he was dead. 

She heard footsteps outside her door, and eventually followed them. The hall was littered with people, crying to themselves, or trying to wipe off blood. She was in shock all over again, as her own reality was multiplied times the fifty pairs in Minerva, the six hundred pairs across the so-called school. 

She spotted Pax. Between the way he was sitting and the dim light, it wasn’t as easy as it usually was. He was crouched over a girl on the floor, rubbing her back, murmuring. 

He looked up and saw Virginia. He said something else to the girl, who moved from the fetal position to sitting and nodded. Virginia ran to him, and he hugged her tightly, picking her up off the ground, tears welling up in his eyes. 

They walked on together. No one looked up at them. She noted who was there, who was missing. There still had to be several in the tunnel, and she wondered if any ended in ties, with both dead. The hall ended in a washroom of sorts, and a few other students had made it there. They were in various stages of dress, and Virginia saw uniforms laid out. They were already labeled with names. 

She didn’t try to determine how they knew which names to include. 

She and Pax dressed silently, and though she was much more composed than she had been in the lockers while whistling, she still noted that Pax was indeed as large everywhere. She wondered if Helga even knew that yet. If she did, her extended trip to say goodbye made more sense now. 

She and Pax talked to the others in the room. She helped a girl banging her head against a wall gain her composure and finish buttoning the military-style jacket. She soothed a wiry boy who wouldn’t stop sobbing “It shouldn’t have been her,” and pulling at his own hair. 

They walked back through the halls, delivering the uniforms to those waiting and those wailing. She was able to remember most of their names from the night before - or had it only been hours ago? It only seemed to underscore the names that were missing. 

Most cried, and she had seen Pax’s eyes were as red and bloodshot as the rest. Hers were too, and they stopped nearest where the doors in the tunnel began. They slumped against a wall, and she looked up at him. 

“I had Quirinius. It was hard, but after it was done, it didn’t feel that hard. He said horrible things about me, about Adrius. And I couldn’t take that. But in the end, I felt like Adrius had sent him, or something. It was like he wanted to die.” 

“He was an asshole. If I was that awful, maybe I’d want to die.” Pax said, shrugging, but leaving it unspoken that he had just killed someone, so he did feel like he might now be that awful. 

“You’re not awful. You’re here.” She put her hand on his knee in comfort. He nodded. 

“It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be either,” he said slowly, his voice with none of the joy or booming timbre she knew so well. “He said he’d kill me and then he would be your bodyguard. And then he’d kill you and be Primus. And, so I crushed his skull.” Pax snapped his fingers, and Virginia wondered if it was that quick, or if he was sparing her the gory detail. 

“I remember being scared,” he continued, “thinking I would never kill someone. But now that I have, it feels like almost like it wasn’t scary at all.” Virginia nodded, and he went on, as usual, fully understanding and saying exactly what was on her mind. 

“By the time I left the room, I was just wishing they hadn’t taken my jelly beans. We’re going to need all the luck we can get.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this answers the question "Was Darrow actually that witty?" and tells the tale of how he came up with his hilarious Ask-your-mother dick joke in Morning Star: Mustang told him this story, and he was like _Dude, I gotta use that one day._
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading and sticking with it if you have. You're all wonderful. Now write your own stuff so this fandom can become a thing! :)


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